This morning I woke up just as the ship was entering the San Juan harbor and passing by the El Morro fort. Luckily I had a balcony on the correct side to get some photos during the magic hour as we sailed by.
I had a light breakfast on the back of deck 8 where the Guy’s Pig & Anchor smokehouse was with a nice view of the ocean from the back of the ship.
I got off the ship at 7:30 AM and despite the size of the ship there was no queue to get off like I am accustomed to. And the ship security officers use a tablet to scan the bar code on the Sign & Sail card which was so much easier than on other ships where they essentially have a podium that the card has to be inserted.
I stopped briefly to take some photos of the ship, luckily it was not backed in so I was able to get some nice shots of the bow.
Since El Morro fort didn’t open until 9:00 AM I didn’t need to rush. I walked through Old San Juan along the waterfront. I was surprised how cheap the ferry was – only 50 cents!
I stumbled upon Bastion de las Palmas which has a very scenic overlook.
I walked by the Chapel of Christ the Savior. It was locked when I walked by.
I walked to the Umbrella Street, but they had changed the decorations as they were celebrating the gold medalist from Puerto Rico.
I took some pictures of El Convento hotel and Catedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista.
Next I found a monument called Plazuela La Rogativa. There was also a very impressive overlook from this area.
I saw people walking on the path below along the shore, so I investigated and found the San Juan gate.
You’ll see later in a picture of a sign the trail is called Paseo del Morro. The walking trail was built in 1999.
Although I was at the entrance of the fort I continued to the end of the walking path.
La Perla in the distance dome in the cemetary
When I entered the fort there was several large iguanas.
I walked around the front to pay the entrance fee and go into the fee area of the National Park.
The National Park fee was only $10 and included admission to both forts. It was very reasonable.
I walked around the inside of El Morro and took many more photos.
triangular staircase the latrine another iguana looking back towards La Perla and Old San Juan
I took a few more pictures from outside the fee area while walking to the Catedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista.
I then walked to Plaza del Quinto Centenario.
I took a picture of Iglesia de San José, but didn’t find the entrance.
I walked around the back of the cathedral I did go inside earlier.
I walked over to Plaza de Armas and there was a nice fountain, but there was also a protest (very small protest) ongoing.
I took a few more photos of the Spanish Colonial architecture along the way to the other fort.
I found a small church called Parroquia San Francisco de Asis and walked in to explore.
Some more photos of the local architecture along the way until I reached Plaza Colón.
Castillo San Cristobal from Plaza Colon Yes, it’s the national hero of Spain who got lost on the way to India Antiguo Casino Castillo San Cristobal
After a short hike up the hill I had arrived at Castillo San Cristobal which was one of the places I had planned to go today.
I walked in and showed the receipt from El Morro and was able to enjoy the fort with no additional fee. This one seemed much smaller, but offered really impressive views.
yes, the ship is that big
I walked past La Perla, apparently it is not a safe place to walk through. There was even a motorcycle cop at the entrance, likely to keep gringos out.
I walked through the cemetery near La Perla that I could see from El Morro. It was interesting, but I didn’t spend much time there.
I decided to walk to Casa Blanca and walked through Cuartel de Ballajá.
There was one interesting statue near the entrance of Casa Blanca. I didn’t really have enough time to explore Casa Blanca, so I just looked around outside.
I started to walk back to the ship and took a couple more photos along the way, including some more of the ship.
Back onboard I dropped off my things at my cabin and found a new pet, well towel animal. Today it was a turtle.
I went to Shaq’s Big Chicken for lunch. The fries are amazing and all the sandwiches sound good. I got the Big Aristotle, who can say no to bacon on a chicken sandwich?
the Big Aristotle delicious potato salad
I enjoyed the sailaway from the back of the ship on deck 16/17. It was crazy that we were so close to the airport runway and small planes were doing touch and gos while our skyscraper of a ship was blocking the runway. It took a while to back the ship out and turn it to get out of the port.
Castillo San Cristobal Castillo San Cristobal you can see the airplane and runway here cruise port and US Coast Guard
It was beautiful to pass by El Morro in the daylight.
The Bolt was running so I got a couple of pictures and videos of it.
I had dinner in the main dining room again. I ordered a couple of appetizers – meatballs and the mozzarella sticks. For the main I asked for the beef tenderloin medium, but they gave me one that was well done. They did replace it with one that was cooked properly. The dessert was supposed to be like bread pudding, but was not good at all.
After dinner I watched the Cruise Director’s show at Center Stage.
Here’s a few of the photos I took with my SLR today:
